As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is an information handling system (IHS). An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for such systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Image capturing devices, such as cameras, webcams, or the like, are capable of communicating with information handling systems (IHSs). As an example, an IHS may be shipped with multiple image capturing devices (e.g., television (TV) tuner and webcam) whereby the IHS is preloaded with a multitude of drivers corresponding to the image capturing devices. In the case where an IHS is associated with multiple image capturing devices, the devices may exhibit similar functionalities and may be categorized together, as detected by an operating system (OS) of the IHS. Therefore, an OS may not be able to differentiate among the various types of image capturing devices in communication with the IHS.
Typically, a user may launch an imaging software application requiring the execution of an image capturing device. Under current practice, the user manually selects an appropriate image capturing device corresponding to the imaging software application executed. To this end, an imaging software application may provide a dropdown menu for a user to select a preferred image capturing device from a list of various possible devices, typically arranged in alphabetical order. A preferred image capturing device may be manually selected by the user. However, in some instances, the device selected may not be the most compatible device for the imaging software application. An imaging software application may further select one of the available image capturing devices as a default selection. However, the selected device may not be desired by the user or may not be compatible with the imaging software application.
Thus, a need exists for systems and methods to automatically (i.e., without user intervention) recognize and match imaging software applications to their appropriate image capturing devices required for execution. Such systems and methods may involve a virtual driver to recognize and/or select a preferred image capturing device corresponding to an executed imaging software application.